


Piggyback

by OneThumpAway



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Disaster Twins, Fluttering HC, For a prompt in a Discord server, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Self-Blame, injuries, piggyback
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25110394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneThumpAway/pseuds/OneThumpAway
Summary: The softshell feels himself moving but... he's not moving himself. His legs feel like Jell-O, there's no way he can be walking.Is he being carried piggyback…?
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo (TMNT)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 213





	Piggyback

**Author's Note:**

> Another story for a prompt! The prompt was: brothers carrying others that are too weak to stand (bc of exhaustion, crying, etc).

_“...on? Do… ou’re okay, yeah…? Stay awake!”_

His head hurts… 

He’s tired… 

_“...on’t sleep!”_

The softshell feels himself moving but... he's not moving himself. His legs feel like Jell-O, there's no way he can be walking. 

Is he being carried piggyback…?

He starts to mumble something, trying to ask what's going on, but someone shushes him. The voice is familiar, calming. 

_“We're al… ome, bro. Just st… th me.”_

Fine. He'll stay up. He still wants to know what's going on, though. 

Donnie cracks an eye open, but all he sees is a sewer tunnel. Not helpful. 

“Wh…?”

He hears another shush, and looks down with blurry vision. 

“Mmph… Leo…?” he mumbles, trying to lift his head up off his twin, but the slider readjusts his hold, startling Don and causing him to lean his head back down.

“We’re almost home,” Leon repeats, but his voice is shaky now that the softshell is really registering it. 

“...Wh h’pp’ned…?” Don tries to ask. 

The blue-masked—no, he’s not wearing his mask, why isn’t he wearing his mask? The _usually_ blue-masked turtle lets out a shuddering sigh, readjusting again to push Don back up higher on his carapace. 

“We got jumped while trying to find the mystic metal. The Foot found us, knocked you into the wall.” He stops to take another shaky breath as Don slowly processes what he's saying. “Your Battle Shell cracked. I think you have a concussion, but I can't check it out yet. I wanna get you home first.”

“...How bad is my Battle Shell…?” The softshell idly tries to push up his—not his mask. _His_ mask covers his whole head. This is… This is Leo's. 

“It's not bad. You can fix it after you're better.” Why does he sound so guilty? 

“...Why am I wearing your mask?” 

“...I ran out of bandages last week and forgot to restock…” Leo's voice… cracks? Is Donnie hearing right?

“What's wrong?” he finally asks, eyes narrowing just a bit as they take a turn.

Leon doesn't speak for a few seconds, the only noise in the tunnel being his feet in the sewer water and some pipes dripping. 

“...It's my fault you got hurt. I was too wrapped up in thinking of one of my stupid puns and didn't notice that Brute was charging at me until you-you pushed me out of the way.” His voice breaks, and he tries to cough to cover it up. 

Now the elder of them doesn’t say anything, trying to process this. There’s no way Leo’s feeling so bad about this? He would lay his life down for Leo in a heartbeat. He barks out a quiet laugh, weak just like he feels, but still enough to startle his twin. “Leo—”

“And—I’m sorry! I should’ve been paying attention, I should’ve—” The younger’s hand is fluttering now, tapping on Don’s leg, but he doesn’t really mind. 

“Leo!” the softshell tries again, his voice weak but enough to get Leo to shut up for at least a second. “Don’t worry about it. It’s okay—”

“It’s not!” Leon readjusts again, and Donnie groans quietly as he’s jostled too hard. “It’s my fault! I should’ve paid attention! I should’ve listened to you, I should’ve been aware of my surroundings, I—”

Donnie hits Leo on the head with his chin. “ _Pained groan…_ Now, shut up. Listen to me.”

Leo mutters something under his breath, but nods. 

“I’m okay. Okay? I got… a little banged up, but so did you, like, last week… when you were out with Mikey getting pizza… Remember? You came back with two black eyes cuz… cuz you ran into an alley wall?”

The slider groans at the reminder. His face still kind of hurts from that… “Yeah, what about it?”

“You’re… You’re glad Mikey was there to… help you home, right?”

“...Yeah?”

“So, what’s the difference here?” That should get him. The purple-loving turtle grins a bit, before cringing in pain. 

“Cuz _I’m_ the reason you got hurt! It’s _my_ fault! I wasn’t paying attention!” Leo retorts, sniffing once. He’s still fluttering, signifying he isn’t feeling any better.

“ _Actually,_ ” the softshell emphasizes this word, “ _if_ I remember correctly _…_ Michael is the one that… that distracted you and made you miss that jump. Do you… blame him for that? For trying… to show you a cool… pigeon, was it?” 

“...No.” 

_Got ‘im._

“So, don’t blame yourself for this, okay? I’m fine, I didn’t die, which is… a plus. _Amused chuckle._ ”

The fluttering slowly starts to slow to a stop, and Leo readjusts once more, being more careful this time. They travel in silence for about another minute, and then Leo speaks quietly. “Thanks, Donald.”

“Mmph.”

They arrive at the Lair, and right before Leo steps in, Don grins again. “You’re explaining this, though. I’m… _too tired._ ” He changes his tone to that of exhaustion, a trick his twin has played several times.

The striped turtle scrunches his beak up, then grins and readjusts harshly again, causing the purple-marked turtle to pretty much bang his chin, setting off a wave of vertigo. “H-Hey!”

The younger’s grin widens as they enter the Lair. 

**Author's Note:**

> I used a headcanon from DovelyDraws on Tumblr/[Lovely_Dovely](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovely_Dovely) on here for Leo cuz I like it a lot asfdhgsjhsfkg


End file.
